[Publib] Library animatronics

[Mark Arend]

I disagree.  If that cow goes anywhere it's coming to America's
Dairyland!

 -------------------------------
Mark W. Arend, Assistant Director 
Winnefox Library System
106 Washington Ave.
Oshkosh, WI  54901
(920) 236-5222           fax: (920) 236-5228

mailto:arend at winnefox.org                 http://www.winnefox.org/

"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy."
                         -- James Madison
 
 
 

> M. McGrorty reports on the contemplated use of "Bessie," a 
> life-size robotic Holstein dairy cow, in a Billy Graham 
> Museum and Burial Site.
> 
> Just in case the Grahams do decide that this isn't such a 
> great idea after all, I'd like to put in first dibs on 
> Bessie.  Chandler, Arizona, may have once been nothing but 
> cresosote-bush- studded desert, but in 1912 Dr. A. J. 
> Chandler (a veterinary and a buddy of Frank Lloyd Wright, 
> besides being a land developer) bought up 16,000 acres of 
> irrigated crop- and dairyland southeast of Phoenix and 
> founded our town, which has now curdled into a suburb of 240,000.
> 
> Indeed, one of the big dairies here hung on until quite 
> recently before succumbing to the pressure to raise 
> split-levels instead of Holsteins. Thus, I think it would be 
> both historically appropriate, and fun, to have Bessie as a 
> greeter in my place, the Sunset Branch of the Chandler Public Library.
> 
> What other library could say that it salutes its patrons 
> through the agency of  an animatronic Holstein?  And I bet we 
> could program Bessie to announce special programs, Friends 
> book sales, and so on, as needed.  It will be great.
> 
> I suppose, though, that many heartland libraries will assert 
> that Bessie more suitably should work for them, not for some 
> library out in a smoggy, strip-mall-infested, sun-soaked 
> suburb of Phoenix.  I anticipate that the Carnegie-Stout PL 
> in Dubuque, the Alpha Park Library in Bartonville, Eau Claire 
> PL, and Nann's place in Illinois (where Bessie would be a 
> good fit in the butterfly garden), among many others, will 
> dispute my claim to priority. I will admit that in Iowa alone 
> there are hundreds of public libraries whose buildings are 
> never more than ten feet from a cornstalk or a Holstein.
> 
> The solution, of course, is to find out who manufactured 
> Bessie for Franklin Graham, and then see if they would be 
> willing to work with Demco or Gaylord to mass produce 
> animatronic Holsteins for library use.
> 
> Years ago we took my son to Disneyland, and when we saw 
> Disney's animatronic Abe Lincoln, it hit me right off that 
> this was a terrific solution to the reference desk coverage 
> problem.  At the time I thought Abe could be deployed on 
> evenings and Sundays, and could easily be programmed to field 
> all those less challenging inquires such as Where is the restroom?
> 
> Of course, when it comes to animatronics, it doesn't have to 
> be Abe.  Bessie the Holstein could not only greet patrons at 
> agriculturally relevant public libraries but take a shift or 
> two on the desk.
> 
> Indeed we could even have Gaylord add
> Babelfish (Systran) language processing to Bessie, so she 
> could handle more difficult questions, if not the entire 
> reference interview.
> The mind boggles, does it not?
> 
> For my part, I'd find it charming to be directed to the loo 
> or put on a hold list by a talking Holstein, but I suppose 
> some patrons may find such things off-putting.
> 
> But there's no limit to the possibilities when you start 
> thinking outside the milk carton.
> 
> Bessie could come equipped with USB ports, for example, so 
> she could not only direct you to the appropriate stalls in 
> the library, but also download audiobooks to your MP3 player 
> on a while-you-wait basis.
> 
> And for those of you who have implemented in-library coffee 
> shops, Bessie could be set up to dispense cream, of course.
> 
> E-i-e-i-o,
> 
> Joe Schallan
> 
> (Whose great-grandpa and grandma emigrated from Holstein, 
> Germany to Iowa, and whose first cousin still farms 1200 
> acres near St.
> Donatus, Iowa, and who is thus amply qualified to write on 
> these matters . . . ) _______________________________________________
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